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After a horrible plague decimates the nation. Carly and Justin must travel from her home in Juneau, Alaska to a place with a warmer climate, where they will have a better chance of survival. It's a journey across a nation laid to waste by the disaster, but also a journey into love.

Check out the trailer, here.

Excerpt:

“I’ve never been out of
Alaska,” Carly said. She wasn’t sure she could explain to him how awful a
prospect it was to leave everything behind, to give up on the idea the
world might return to normal if she just waited there instead of
abandoning her hope and home.

“I’ve never been to Florida.” Justin took a large bite of his cold pork
and beans and chewed with relish. “Here’s the thing.” He pulled a paper
towel off the roll beside the sink and used it as a napkin. “We need to
leave soon. It’s going to be a very long journey, and I don’t think we’ll
manage to make it all the way to Florida, or even south of the Mason-Dixon
for that matter, before the winter sets in. So we have to hurry and get as
far as possible in the time we have left.”
Carly hesitated before asking, since she knew it was another
dumb question, but she had to know. “If we can’t take a car or a
motorcycle, what are we going to do?”“Ride bicycles. Walk.”

“Justin, you’re talking four thousand miles here.” The idea of moving into
a house across town had been daunting enough, let alone the idea
of traveling across most of North America.

Carly shook her head. “You’re talking about more than half a year,
maybe more.”

“Do you understand, then, why I want to leave as soon as possible? We need to
go somewhere we can grow enough food to sustain ourselves. Florida has an
excellent climate for farming. I’m not saying we have to get all the way
to Florida. There are other states in the South that would have a good
climate for us, but I’m thinking of Florida as my goal. We may be able to
use different vehicles during sections of our trip, but that’s not a
guarantee. The ones we find may have dead batteries, or the fuel could
have gone bad. If we encountered a roadblock or traffic jam, we’d
have to unload the vehicle and try to find another. Bikes are
more reliable.”

“Do you actually have this planned out, or is it just an idea you have?”
Justin chuckled. “Once you get to know me, Carly, you’ll find I
have everything planned out.” He went out into the hallway and grabbed one
of the bags that contained his gear. He opened up the front pocket
and withdrew a map. A route had been highlighted, cutting across Canada
and through the US, a bumpy line, but almost perfectly diagonal.

She traced her finger over the long line. “What if I refuse to go?”

“I can’t leave you here to die, Carly.”

Die? She gave him a startled look,
but he didn’t back off and admit to exaggeration or soften the comment
with a shrug or smile. Instead, he looked straight into her eyes, and his
steady gaze told her he wasn’t trying to scare her or embellish. He saw it
as an inevitable consequence if she were left there on her own, not as a
possibility.

She looked away, unable to meet his eyes any longer. “Because you knew my
dad?”

“No, not just because of the promise I made when I joined The Unit,
but because I fancy myself to be a decent human being. One way
or another, I’m going to have to convince you, but I hope to hell it
doesn’t take very long. I know you don’t know me very well yet, but
you’ll find I’m a person who keeps my promises. And I promise you I will
do my best to keep you safe, warm, and fed. I’m your best shot at
survival.”

He tugged up the sleeve of his T-shirt and showed her the
symbol tattooed there, the same symbol that was on her father’s ring.
“This once meant something. It meant enough that I had it permanently
etched into my skin because it’s a part of me. It wasn’t just a military
unit. It was a code of honor. I may be the last man standing, but I swear I’m not going to let that code die, too.”

And gazing into his eyes, Carly believed him. She might have very
little experience of the world, but she knew sincerity when she saw it. He
truly cared about what happened to her, for whatever reason. Her doubts
and fears warred with her instincts, which told her Justin was what he
presented himself to be. He was a nice guy with a mischievous sense of
humor and a strong sense of honor and duty. Her father had told her to
trust no one, but he had also told her about the symbol and what it meant
to the men who wore it.

“I’m scared,” Carly said. She felt her cheeks warm in embarrassment at the
admission, but she felt like he deserved her honesty.

“I am, too. None of this is going to be easy, but I’d put our chances
at reaching Florida higher than most.”

“That doesn’t sound too encouraging.”

Justin was quiet for a long moment. “Do you want me to be honest
or comforting?”

Carly blinked when tears stung her eyes again. He already thought she was
stupid. She didn’t want to add whiny to the list. “Just for a little
while, can you be optimistic?”

Lissa Bryan is an astronaut, renowned Kabuki actress, Olympic pole vault gold medalist, Iron Chef champion, and scientist who recently discovered the cure for athlete's foot.... though only in her head. Real life isn't so interesting, which is why she spends most of her time writing.